SEO is a crucial process that factors into your digital brand visibility. To increase search visibility and grow your business, you want to steer clear of these 5 SEO mistakes that cost you money.
1. Not Staying Abreast of Algorithm Changes
Search engine algorithms are constantly changing and evolving. Since algorithms are responsible for determining how to rank your pages in search results, it is important to understand changes in ranking factors so you can best optimize your site.
Each year, Google changes its search algorithm around 500–600 times.
Although many updates are small, a couple major updates come along as well. You want to prioritize learning about major algorithm updates and when they will go into effect. Staying informed will allow you to prepare in advance for changes and avoid a drop in ranking.
How to stay informed:
SEE ALSO: How to Improve Brand Signals for Better SEO
2. Not Having a Mobile Friendly Site
If you’re trying to dominate search, you must dominate mobile. Considering that over 50% of global Google searches are performed on mobile devices, if your site is not optimized for mobile, then you’re simply leaving money on the table.
In fact, if your site isn’t mobile friendly, it can be excluded from mobile search results. Now just because your website looks fine on the smartphone, it doesn’t mean that it’s actually mobile friendly, at least in the eyes of Google.
Here are common mistakes according to Google:
- Blocked javascript, CSS, and image files
- Unplayable content
- Faulty redirects
- Mobile-only 404s
- Interruptive app download prompts
- Irrelevant cross-links
- Slow mobile pages
To determine whether your website is mobile friendly, use the free Google Mobile-Friendly Test
3. Forgetting to Optimize Images
While title tags and meta descriptions are often prioritized, forgetting alt tags and descriptions for images is a common mistake. Be sure to include alt text for images to increase the chances of your image displaying in search results and to improve the accessibility of your site for impaired visitors.
Resources for image optimization:
4. Not Leveraging the Power of Local
If your business has absent or inaccurate local listings, you’re likely missing out on customers or consumers interested in what you have to offer. Make sure your business is listed and your information is up to date on search engines.
If you have a brick and mortar location you want to verify your address, phone number and business hours.
Search Engine business listings:
DBI TIP: To further make sure you are visible to local audiences, consider review sites relevant to your industry. Consider: Yelp, Urbanspoon (restaurants), Tripadvisor (travel & hospitality), Zillow (real estate), or Healthgrades (medical professionals)
Create Local Content and Connect with Local Influencers
You also want to make your content local. For example, if you’re a real estate agent, you can create a blog post about the type of plants that grow best in your particular area.
In addition to creating local content, you also want to tap into local influencers. This will allow you to use their credibility and reach to promote your content. Try to form an authentic connection and build a relationship so they can become genuine fans of your brand.
5. Publishing Poor Content
Poor content provides a terrible user experience, damages your credibility, and greatly impacts your search rankings. Create content that is valuable and engages your audience. A few tips to keep in mind are:
- Write your content for people and not search engines.
- Create original content that is useful and informative.
- Keyword stuffing does more harm than good.
- Make sure your content actually reflects your keywords.
- Avoid spelling, grammar, and stylistic errors by making sure your content is edited.
Content Guidelines:
By avoiding these 5 critical and costly SEO mistakes, you can optimize your site for search to drive organic traffic and increase revenue.
Have you made any of these SEO mistakes? How did you fix them to rank better? Share your stories with me in the comments below.
